Definition: nominal

Search dictionary for

Source: WordNet (r) 1.7

nominal
     adj 1: relating to or constituting or bearing or giving a name;
            "the Russian system of nominal brevity"; "a nominal
            lists of priests"; "taxable males as revealed by the
            nominal rolls"
     2: insignificantly small; a matter of form only; "the fee was
        nominal"; "a token gesture of resistance"; (`tokenish' is
        informal as in "a tokenish gesture") [syn: token, tokenish]
     3: (grammar) "nominal phrase"; "noun phrase"
     4: (economics) being value in terms of specification on
        currency or stock certificates rather than purchasing
        power; "nominal or face value" [ant: real]
     5: named; bearing the name of a specific person; "nominative
        shares of stock" [syn: nominative]
     6: being such in name only; "the nominal (or titular) head of
        his party" [syn: titular]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Nominal \Nom"i*nal\, a. [L. nominalis, fr. nomen, nominis, name.
   See Name.]
   1. Of or pertaining to a name or names; having to do with the
      literal meaning of a word; verbal; as, a nominal
      definition. --Bp. Pearson.

   2. Existing in name only; not real; as, a nominal difference.
      ``Nominal attendance on lectures.'' --Macaulay.
Nominal \Nom"i*nal\, n.
   1. A nominalist. [Obs.] --Camden.

   2. (Gram.) A verb formed from a noun.

   3. A name; an appellation.

            A is the nominal of the sixth note in the natural
            diatonic scale.                       --Moore
                                                  (Encyc. of
                                                  Music. )